It was an evening filled with glitz, glamour and a focus on the military at the War Horse London premiere. Kate opted for a black lace dress by Temperley.

Weir Photos / Splash News

The star-studded event was a fundraiser for The Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry. Following the movie there was a private reception at Buckingham Palace with William, Kate, cast members and other notables, the price of admission to that event was £10,000.

The film is set against the backdrop of World War I, much of it was shot in England.

War Horse

Those on hand for the premiere included producers Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy.

Max Foster CNN Twitter Feed

People magazine’s Simon Perry shared that Mr. Spielberg says he remembers meeting Prince William when he was “very, very small.” The Hollywood heavyweight also added meeting royalty at events like tonight’s never grows old.

The fitted gown showcased black lace with a floral motif atop a nude underskirt, unlined lace sleeves, exaggerated dropped waist detailing and a deep vee neck. It replicates one of the gown’s in Temperley’s Bridal collection, from the Spring 2013 line.

Splash News (L) / Vogue Australia (R)

Many elements may be found in other Temperley frocks, some dating back as far as 2008 or 2009. The most currently Temperley dress showing similarities is this one, the lace pattern is identical, and the elongated keyhole opening on the back bears a resemblance to the back of Kate’s dress.

Kate’s frock is called the Amoret Black Lace Maxi Dress.

Shopbop

The dress was selling in July (2012) on the Temperley website ($4050) as well as the Shopbop site ($2520), but it appears both places may be sold out. Our thanks to Gena, she left a comment (July 2012) us to the availability of the dress. Below, a better look at the details.

Temperley London

Kate accessorized with familiar pieces, a tip of the hat to WKW Facebook friend Alisha who noticed that Kate’s black velvet belt looked familiar, however this belt was not one of them, I mistakenly thought it was.

A reminder for those fond of this bag, the good folks at Mascaro/Pretty Ballerinas tell us this handbag will be reissued in black within a few weeks. (It is currently available elsewhere in purple.)

Also making a reappearance, the stunning diamond drop earrings and bracelet we first saw on the North American tour. No word yet on Kate’s shoes, some think they are either the Jimmy Choo or Prada shoes worn to the Military Awards. We never received confirmation on either pair of shoes, so we’ll hold off for the time being.

The Duchess’s gown showcased three familiar themes:

another lace dress

another frock from Temperley

another dress in black, or with black as the predominant color

While it would be delightful to see Kate in something that wasn’t quite so familiar, tonight’s event was intended to shine a light on military personnel and their families. The Duchess was the picture of grace and elegance while also remaining understated, detracting not at all from the service men and women in attendance. This Temperley dress accented with jewelry and accessories we have previously seen accomplished that objective very well.

The US director also praised the couple’s “wonderful” gesture to invite soldiers to the event.

“It’s a great honour that they’ve (William and Kate) given up their time and also given up their charity and it’s wonderful because it was their idea to bring the veterans here, so they could share this evening,” he said.

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There is more news, word that William, Kate and Prince Harry will be supporting the recently created Forces in Mind Trust. The charity will offer support for military men and women adapting to civilian life after leaving active duty. The Trust was launched with £35 million from the UK’s ‘Big Lottery Fund,’ it will be led by the Confederation of Service Charities. More from the Big Lottery Fund site:

Over the next 20 years, the Forces in Mind Trust will provide UK-wide long-term support and advocacy for Service personnel and Veterans to make a successful transition to civilian life.The focus will be on addressing a range of problems that some ex-service personnel and their families can experience back in civilian life, such as poor mental health, family breakdown and alcohol-related problems.

The new organization will provide help with basic issues facing like housing, job training and employment, personal finances and more.

Known as The Tigers, the Regiment draws many of its officers and soldiers from Kent, Sussex, Surrey, London, Middlesex, Hampshire as well as the the Isle of Wight. It is also the only infantry regiment that recruits from the Channel Islands.

I agree with most in that while this dress is beautiful it seems a bit predictable. So far, my fav is the black velvet McQueen.

Also wanted to let all those who have found and love LK Bennett that you can now purchase many of their items here in the states and also find some thing actually at a sale price! Was at Bloomingdales in King of Prussia Mall in PA outside of Philly. They have a mini LK boutique in house and had many of the items worn by Kate! Saw the red wool coat, black fur coat worn on Christmas Eve, the sandals worn to the polo match in LA, the Maddox, sledge and much more! I was surprised to also find out after chatting with the LK mgr that they will get things in if requested and will also ship!

Ok, I’ve already stated more than my 2 cents worth on FB, but here we are again. ;p

She absolutely does not need a dresser. I think if that happens I will no longer follow her fashion very closely. One of the reasons I love her style is that it is HERS and hers alone. No one helps her pick out stuff or tells her what looks good – she knows. And I want the Duchess’s style mixed with my own, not some dresser’s ideas of what looks right. That would be horrible. Also, I think a dresser would be too daring, too trend-following, too EXPENSIVE. Kate’s clothing is, for the most part, prim and proper, elegant, classic, timeless, and almost AFFORDABLE. I want things to stay that way!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this look, this gown, her long princess hair – everything.

I love the funereal look in fashion; the gothic undertones to most lacey black gowns are haunting and gorgeous. That partly is because I like that style to begin with.

I think that this, the blue Erdem, the wedding dress, and the black velvet are my all-time favs – oh and the black velvet coat! I guess I have a serious penchant for black, velvet, and lace. ;p

I also think Kate happens to look even more gorgeous than usual when she’s in either plum or black, although I would adore seeing her in forest green – a color she hasn’t tried yet that would probably really make her sparkle.

For me, this gown wins. Like I already said a million times, I like it because it’s my style. It’s something I would pick out. Black lace and billowy trains … long sleeves … man, oh man. But I also like it because it becomes Kate and makes her truly look like a Queen. Not a future queen. A QUEEN.

(Oh, and I think DANNII MINOGUE’s gown in the “worst dressed” article was GORGEOUS! A horrible skin disease? she looked stunning. :))

Hi! First post -after having read your site for ages. I have a bit of a random question about the lace overlay on this dress. It looks like the lower part ‘floats’ away from the nude sheath underneath and I was curious how it keeps its stiffness. I can’t see a sort of frame that would help bell out that part of the gown? I would have thought static – or damp weather – would make the lace flop/stick to the underlying sheath. I’m not really craftsy, so you’ll have to forgive my terminology!

There’s no “frame”; the undersheath is simply very narrowly cut, while the lace overdress is fuller and more loosely cut, from just below the Duchess’s hips, at least, and is designed to float out from the body as the wearer moves.

Lace is often stiffer, by virtue of its very nature, the way it’s made, than smooth-woven silks, satins, cottons and linens.

lace can be surprisingly stiff depending on the thread used to build the fabric. i don’t know the content of this dress but at the Temperley site a similar dress is rayon/nylon. if the lace and underlay are mostly rayon, there won’t be static cling.

Thank you both – that shows you how often I wear lace!! I’d never have thought of lace as stiff – so that was something new learned. The lower part of the gown caught my eye because it moved so easily when she walked.

Alot of people are saying she should be more adventurous with her choices but this is her strategy not to overshadow William or other inlaws in early stages of marriage, she is toning it down because of that..so best bet she will not be glammered out in style but thats ok, she may not want to be identified as a style icon and could stick with safe or change/experiment with style gradually so it’s not drastically noticeable..

i love everything about this dress. it is an interesting cut. it is elegant without being showy, befitting the occasion.
i like that she likes wearing lace! the lace itself is different again from her other lace outfits.

She has officially become the queen of lace dresses! Another lovely gown but the redundancy is becoming a bore. I’m looking forward to seeing her appear with the Queen and make some solo appearances while William is away. Happy 30th Birthday Kate!

I have mixed feelings about the dress – the horizontal lace accent where the skirt flares is distracting. I like the dress except for that. I do think she is lovely. I wasn’t crazy about the Packham dress for ARTS – it was beautiful but Kate has much wider shoulders compared to her nonexistant hips so any embelishment or extra umph around the shoulders makes her look like a wide receiver for American football team. That being said I would never wear leggings because I would look like a cupcake on a stick – and I am skinny. Not a criticism just reality. I prefer styles on her that balance out the difference between the shoulders and hips – she can pull off pleats or extra fabric around the waist and still look very slim. I liked the dress for her solo engagement for Prince Charles although I did think it was a bit summery. She has a very long torso and shorter legs in comparision as someone else pointed out – things that hang on her a certain way don’t look quite right.

I think it is time Kate think about a stylist. Princess Mary of Denmark has one and always looks impeccable. Kate has lovely clothes and for the most part I like what she wears; however, I can see that see needs to change up some things – like the hair. She needs to stop fooling around with it. I agree with others that it could be her security blanket at the moment.

I think she is doing an excellent job in her role as Prince William’s spouse and the Queen is obviously very happy and relieved that she is part of the firm. Kate is channeling very good vibrations to those she meets and that is the most important thing.

I agree with you re the shaping of the Ark outfit — though I thought it was a more interesting choice as a garment than this retreat into lace once again. As so often, I find that looking at the dress again I begin to see the good points — this latest one included, and I begin to appreciate the thought Kate puts into each outfit. I like the shaping as I think it balances her up nicely, flaring away from those narrow hips, and the way the lace skirt moves is beautiful and differnt from the other lace efforts in that respect.

And if she needs the hair as security blanket then I don’t blame her one bit. How she can take all this on apparently so cheerfully amazes me. I thought there was a “certain age” — and I think she’s now at it — where custom holds that long hair should be shortened to just below the shoulders. I’m pretty vague on this having spent a lifetime with a short crop!

I’m familiar with that custom, but I believe that it is becoming more and more outdated. Plus, would anyone really want to see Kate with a short ‘do? I’ve heard comments about wanting her to wear her hair up, but I don’t recall ever hearing a push for her to lop it off. I’m sure she would look beautiful, but I think that there would be some serious sadness if she cut off that gorgeous mane.

A lot of women cut their hair short when they reach a certain age. What age this certain age is I don’t know but I think regardless of your age, your hair cut needs to suit you and for me Kate has a) not reached that “certain age” yet and b) her hair is wonderful, why cut it?

I think she needs to be careful though with her hair up and what she wears with it. There is one picture where she has her hair up and she wears a purple dress… everytime I look at that picture I think she looks awful in it. Way too old for her years.

As much as I like her looks, the Duchess is not knockout beautiful, and her hair is really one of her best features. She looks much more attractive with it than she would without it and if she habitually wore it up. She knows that, so I suspect that she’s really dithering about what to do with it in the future, as she ages. She doesn’t have naturally elegant bone structure (one of the reasons, I think, that she’s anxious to be quite thin, since this renders the bones of her face more prominent than they would otherwise be), and that’s a bit of a problem where shorter hair and updos are concerned.

Still, she could cut it to shoulder length, with a bit of layering on the ends for bounce and body, and retain the sexy, pretty effect of long hair while looking somewhat more age appropriate as she grows older.

I actually dislike the way Crown Princess Mary of Denmark dresses. If that’s down to a stylist, then in my opinion, she needs to get rid of the one she has and either find a new one or rely on her own taste.

Man, the future queen truly loves lace. LOL. The silhouette looks amazing on her, and as much as I am fan of victorian style, this is just too much lace and made her look like a walking…curtain. Please don’t beat me. I love Kate.

Kate looks lovely and appropriate, as always, and I think this dress has a great silhouette which suits her beautifully. But I’m just not nutty about the dress, particularly all the seaming, which likely stands out much more in the photos than they do live. Also the lace seems quite a bit stiffer than the softer nude lining so the lace skirt on the dress flares much more than the lining and somehow looks odd when she moves.

Great news about her appointment as Honourary Colonel to the Princess of Wales regiment and her future involvement with the Forces of Mind Trust. I was curious about the lack of military associations when Kate’s patronages were announced but this explains it.

An official royal umbrella supplier? being an American I never cease to be amazing by the inner workings of royalty. I did notice there was an abundance of them on the red carpet just prior to their arrival, and there was no other type present.

Kate is a good looking woman, but I simply don’t like black lace over light coloured fabric, Duchess or no Duchess. And I’m getting a bit bored now with Kate’s fashion choices. Always pretty much the same. And the same hairstyle, which makes her neck disappear. Come on, Kate, you’re 30… not 60, go and be a bit more adventurous fashionwise!

Not my favorite look on her. I don’t think it is a very pretty dress but she looks great. Kudos to Prince William and Catherine for trying to throw the spotlight (that is always cast on what they do) on to the military and their families.

I like the shape of the dress on her, it’s beautifully cut so as to skim over her very flat hips, aided I think by a slightly raised waistline. But I’d agree wholeheartedly about the unfortunate seaming, leading to that unfortunate emphasis on the crotch. I don’t however agree that the need to be restrained/respectful re fallen war heroes, fellow royals &c means that the only answer she has is yet more lace.

It’s a beautiful dress, and moves wonderfully as I think the Huffington pics show, but, really, I think we have done lace. This looks too much like someone has run out of ideas. She has three major style themes in wrap dresses, lace dresses and heavy military style coats which could do with some more pep. If we move into sheath dresses, we have variety of tailoring, but promptly lose all colour.

There’s no way she can go on doing all her own wardrobe unless she means to be so royally staid as never to change. Even Queenie in her own form of uniform manages more variety. Catherine herself managed more variations when she was still Miss Middleton and attending weddings &c — at that stage she seemed to understand the principle of ringing the changes out of respect to her hosts. Maybe she’s gone into the royal cocoon and simply lost touch — the one standout outfit for me remains the Jenny Packam worn to the ARK gala last June.

I respectfully completely disagree. ;p Well, not entirely … I DO think she needs more variety, but I also think she’s given us that LATELY – such as the black velvet evening gown, the strappy Packham, the one-shouldered white gown. If anything, she’s breaking out of her old style more than ever these days.
What I feel she needs more variety in are her boots, street clothes, and shoes. Maybe some new jewelry, too.

The lace could go on forever and I would forever be in love with it – I’m a lace fanatic and Kate looks gorgeous in it. It doesn’t suit everyone, and to be honest I wouldn’t have thought it WOULD suit her, but it does perfectly.

I guess everyone has different ideas of what’s pretty or overdone … to me this look can never be overdone. Black, lace, long sleeves …. perfect.

Not my favorite, she took it safe for this gown..looks very similar to her other outfit she wore. And yes glamor not required at this event so she kept it minimal on the jewels which was good. Wasn’t crazy about the pattern of the lace or the lace, but hey she’s got the figure for it so go for it. Good choice on the belt but the line or seam down the middle does not look particularly flattering as it does draw eyes to the “Crotch” area, I still would like to see her hair pulled back and perhaps an updo although agree with commenters glam is not needed..It was a little to lacy for me and the heels look tedious to walk on for an evening. But hey if it worked for her, why not? just not one of my favorite looks on her.

I thought the belt was sewn into the suit as well, but they do appear so very similar, maybe she drew inspiration from that (assuming this is a bespoke dress as I think I saw mentioned on the facebook and twitter feeds). I agree with the above comment that it helped cut up the dress and compliments her shape.

It is a beautiful dress, a lovely cut with nice movement at the bottom and the lace is delicate and pretty, but I think I’d enjoy it more if I wasn’t so used to it. I am starting to get a bit bored by her choices, I understand liking lace (I’ve long been a fan, pre-wedding dress) but I think having so many dresses with similarly large patterns attends to the redundancy. The same hair and makeup as usual (I think some people on the Facebook page had discussed a demi chignon, and that would have been a welcome change) doesn’t help either. I do like her makeup. Similar to the Millies she went pinker and I think it looked young and fresh on her. I understand trying to stay understated and not make the event about herself, but I’m sure she can do that AND branch out from the black lace. I’m hopeful she is playing it safe and conservative with the more formal/black tie events but she’ll go back to her penchant for colors when they go on their tour visits this year.

.. happy birthday wishes to “Our? Fair Lady”! again.. because that’s what she looks like, every inch a lady. a bit of breathtaking. grace and harmony- so lovely.. I think the Duchess may single-handedly bring about a renaissance to lace-making! yay for the art- of true craftsmanship–

I think the lave dress is *ok*, but the thing that annoys me the most about Kate’s style is that everything is really drooooopy. By this I mean she doesn’t have balance between the top and bottom half of her body. Her long hair droops, the dress is too long and heavily weighted (with its voluminous hem) towards the ground, the 3/4 sleeves, again, drag the whole outift downwards. I wish she would do something to balance it all out like hair up and big earrings or hair up, sleeveless and a statement necklace.

I think you are right on. It is almost like she wants to draw your eye toward the floor. And the hair, seems to be her safety net. Like she’s insecure and can hide behind it if it is down. She know people will always say she has amazing hair…

One final thought. Once she has a kid, all of these dresses will be useless. Has anyone ever had their waist return to that small size after children? Think Scarlett O’Hara having her maid pulling in her corset…..after the birth of her daughter…

I had my waist return to its original size. Actually, about an inch smaller (aka, going five years back ;-). The same with my hips. Granted, I had a little more to work with before the pregnancy, but it’s possible.

She is a gorgeous woman, who has good taste, but this dress is way too much lace. The short lace one was fine. This one got highjacked by a gaudy table cloth. There is a good reason why other Temperley pieces are not all lace.

I love this dress, but the design of the lace is SO similar at first glance to the Zara frock from the concert a few weeks ago. Aside from the length, the casual observer might think they were the same dress. I support the Duchess in her endeavor not to detract from the causes she supports, but surely there was a dress that would have been appropriate and did not so closely mirror the Zara dress.

One final criticism… The V on the bottom of the dress (I’m not sure what the technical term would be) seems to direct attention at the crotch of whoever is wearing it (please pardon my crudeness!).

I like this dress better than I would have expected had it been described to me. Though I’m on record as disliking large amounts of lace, and though Temperley is not a designer I really love (I’ve seen only a few Temperley designs I’ve liked), the silhouette here is both simple and elegant, which I appreciate. I also think that the comparative restraint and modesty of the dress — by which I mean that it’s not screamingly glamorous — suits the occasion. The premiere of a Spielberg film about a horse doesn’t require drop-dead red carpet glamour.

The lace pattern is so similar to that of the little Zara dress she wore recently that I couldn’t help but think about the probably huge difference in cost between the two frocks.

I think the belt works well; something was definitely needed to break up that sea of lace. And yes, another picture I saw suggested that she does have on those 5″ heavily-platformed heels that she wore with the McQueen black velvet. I’m an old hand at navigating in high heels, but I find that particular style extremely difficult to walk in. Kudos to her that she can do it.

I’d prefer to see her continue to dress as she pleases. While I am not a huge fan of large amounts of lace, she obviously is — and I’m not sure why that’s a problem. As much as I enjoy seeing her clothes, what she wears is not a matter of earth-shattering moment, and I fear a stylist would diminish the accessibility of her wardrobe. It is that quality that has attracted to her such a fashion following, the reason why sites like this one exist. She knows what she likes, and I appreciate that. I think she should continue to operate on that basis, for all the occasional missteps she may make.

Hi — you’re right, the accessiblity factor is important and so far I’ve been in favour of her exercising her own choices. I think I was a bit surprised by this one — and it took me a while to work out why she had to dress so sober, but that was the military thing again. It’s like she’s been to about three Remembrance parades and how do you vary the blacks?

I also think if she does make a “mistake” then it’s always a very tasteful one — I don’t think this dress is anything other than beautiful — bar the unfortunate seaming which someone has pointed out prob looks worse in photos — guess I was just taken aback at lace yet again. She does always look gorgeous and it’s a shame when people end up looking like a representative of the global makeover movment and cease to be themselves!

Elizamo, I like your point about the “three Remembrance Days”. I’ve been wondering why she keeps wearing black, especially since I seem to remember reading somewhere that the Royal family is technically only supposed to wear black on rare occasions, such as Remembrance Day. But, I guess she might be honoring the service men and women by wearing black at the Military Ball and this premiere?? I do wish that she would have worn a colored frock to the Gary Barlow concert if she knew that she would be wearing all this black at events right around the corner.

As for the Duchess not having a stylist, I agree with the above comments. I would much rather her make a few “mistakes” than get a stylist and lose her individual style. Also, I’ve seen quite a few celebrities with stylists that get it wrong far more often than Kate!

My Mom saw a premiere of this a week or two ago and really liked it – she said it was a tear jerker!

As far as the dress, I must say that I love it. Perhaps because I didn’t really like any of the 5 lace dresses that she has chosen before. (God, why do I know that she has worn 5?!) I think that ultimately, like WKW said, this isn’t about her. By choosing another lace dress and sticking to simple classic fashion choices, she shows that she wants to be taken seriously and not as a clothes horse.

This shape is my favorite on her for sure. Sometimes her shoulders can look broad and hips narrow – so I believe that this is the most flattering shape on her (unlike the Peckham, I believe, that accentuated the shoulders and didn’t give anything extra to the hips). The necklne is great, accessories beautiful but understated (for a princess at least.)

I just wanted to comment about the belt: the belt on the suit is not removable (hope it is english), I went to the store to take a look at it a while back and the belt is sewed and is part of the jacket.
Maybe she cut out the suit entirely and took the belt out.